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July 7 bombings: The US witness who gave insight into terror camps
THE evidence of a terrorist turned- supergrass at the trial gave a disturbing insight into the lives of a small group of young men from Beeston.
July 7 bombs inquiry: Full coverage
As star prosecution witness, Mohammed Junaid Babar's extraordinary testimony in both this trial and the fertiliser bomb trial have provided a rare glimpse into the secret world of terror training camps.
Babar, who became close to senior al-Qaida figures after the September 11 attacks, was arrested in New York in 2004 after returning from Pakistan and pleaded guilty to providing money and supplies to al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan.
He faced up to 70 years in prison, but will serve just a fraction after agreeing to cooperate fully with US investigators or its allies – including the UK.
One such investigation was the fertiliser bomb trial three years ago, when Babar's evidence secured the conviction of the five men who plotted to blow up British targets.
Babar's inside information on the world of terror training camps and jihad – or holy war – became apparent once more when he claimed, via video link from prison in the US, to have seen Mohammed Shakil firing rocket launchers and assault rifles in Pakistan with Khan and fertiliser bomb plotter Omar Khyam.
Babar said Shakil's "perfect stance" with an AK-47 showed he had fired one before, and he had been able to hit a target on an adjacent mountainside with a rocket propelled grenade. The supergrass told the court Shakil said he wanted to fight in Afghanistan.
Shakil told the jury he ended up at the training camp "by accident" and had only been in Pakistan to pay his respects to his recently deceased grandfather.
Dingy flat became the first base
THE existence of a second bomb factory was only revealed last year.
Police quickly discovered the main bomb factory in Alexandra Grove as soon as it became clear that all four bombers had links to West Yorkshire. Controlled explosions were carried out at the premises, which contained several kilograms of explosives.
But it later emerged that the bomb gang almost certainly began building their devices at a different location – in a flat above a takeaway just outside the city centre.
Details given to the jury were scant but the Yorkshire Post can now reveal that the windows of the dingy bedsit above a takeaway in Chapeltown Road were taped round with exactly the same material – and in the same way – as those at Alexandra Grove in Hyde Park.
The tape stopped toxic fumes escaping and drawing attention to them as they worked. Traces of explosives were also found at the Chapeltown Road flat – although not on such a huge scale as at Alexandra Grove.
A neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said: "This is the kind of place where people come and don't stay for very long. People don't get to know each other – you could get up to anything and nobody
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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